There were not any buses at St. Albert’s so the students had to either walk or pedal their way to school each day. For some this was a long walk. Mike L lived across Telegraph so for him the walk was not only long, it was dangerous due to the traffic. For some traffic was the least of their worries.
The Ecorse River or as the kids of St. Albert’s liked to call it, “the creek”, stood between many students on their way to St. Albert’s school and make no mistake, the “creek” is dangerous. The easiest and safest way to cross the creek was the bridge at Heather Lane Park, but even that had its moments as children often saw muskrats, snakes, and other creatures that you would not want to meet up with on your way to school each morning. Cathy C’s Mom used to watch out for the kids to make sure that no one had any unfortunate adventures while crossing this bridge.
The creek was also dangerous because the students of St. Albert had easy access to it at recess and lunch hour. Should a ball be hit too far to left field from the baseball diamond it could end up in the creek. Then the children would naturally try to retrieve it and some would get hurt. Jim M was with Gary Z when he slipped and cut his hand right open by something sharp in the creek, and that brown creek water would almost certainly cause an infection. Gary had to go to the hospital and was in there for hours for stitches and making certain that there was no infection caused by the creek water. Another temptation was when the weather was dry and the creek low, the students would run down the bank and jump to the other side. Inevitably someone would not make the jump or slip and slide down into the creek.
As some of the little friends got older they would sneak down to the creek (after St. Albert’s class was over of course) with alcohol and use the cover of the shrubs to conceal them from any pesky adults who might be questioning the reason a group of kids is going down to the creek anyway. This had its perks as sometimes you would see turtles or ducks going down the creek (it always flowed east toward St. Sebastian’s). It also had its disadvantages; if you opened a 12 pack and set it down on the slope, there was a very good chance the beers would begin rolling out and into the creek after only a few seconds. That’s when things would really get interesting as you would see a small group of little friends running down the slopes of the creek after their precious (and full) cans of beer.
The children South of the school were not the only ones with a long and winding road. The children coming in from Annapolis Street would walk up what can best be described as an upside down “U”, then past the Church to make it to the junior and senior buildings. While they did not have to contend with the wild life of their counterparts from the South, some came incredible distances, almost a mile away and some in different cities, to attend St. Albert the Great school.
